On June 28, 1914, a royal standard such as this one flew from a car carrying Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir-apparent to the Hapsburg throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on a visit to Sarajevo. He and his wife were gunned down by a Serbian nationalist, provoking an international crisis which launched World War I. This flag, with its screaming eagle and vivid colors, was a symbol of royal authority. I moved to within a few inches of it to isolate beak, tongue, feathers, and crown, changing a royal banner into a clash of detail representing the chaos and horror of the assassination.